


Secrets To Keep

by Skits



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 16:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1905462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skits/pseuds/Skits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short little one-shot set just after the episodes Same as It Never Was/The Real World. "When the dust has settled and everything is back to normal - or at least as normal as it ever gets with a family of mutant ninjas - they swap stories about what happened to them while they were separated."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secrets To Keep

When the dust has settled and everything is back to normal - or at least as normal as it ever gets with a family of mutant ninjas - they swap stories about what happened to them while they were separated.

Leo tells his tale in his usual calm, collected way, though the emotions behind it are still clear to his brothers. Raph’s story is told in his own simple, blunt, straightforward manner, but he can’t stop grinning throughout the telling, and he radiates leftover excitement. Mikey shares his story in the same way he shares all his stories - with great enthusiasm and exaggeration, punctuated with sound effects and broad, sweeping gestures. Nobody seems to notice that he never really names or describes the villain of his tale in any great detail.

And Don is happy to just sit back and listen to his brothers, dismissing his own experiences when asked with a casual shrug and a rueful, “it wasn’t really that exciting,” then subtly distracting them with questions about their own stories. If anyone notices his reluctance to talk about what happened to him, or how he sits a little closer, pays a little more attention, drinks in their mere presence like a thirsty man gulps water, they say nothing about it. 

But Mikey watches Don out of the corner of his eye, and silently wonders.

And later, much later, when Don wakes up screaming, drenched in sweat and trembling from the terrible images that haunt his mind, Mikey is at his side in moments. He wraps Don in a tight, comforting hug, murmurs wordless reassurance, ignores the sweat and the trembling and the way Don latches on and clings almost desperately, shaking with silent sobs. 

And Mikey makes doubly sure that Don can feel BOTH his arms around him, because he remembers that odd line his brother blurted out when they were all reunited. And though Don never says anything about it, Mikey is more observant and insightful than anyone really gives him credit for. He puts the little hints together, and can at least guess at the basics. So he offers what comfort he can, and just holds Don close and says nothing.

Because as curious as he is, Mikey won’t push Don for info, partly because Mikey has his own secrets to keep about his adventure in that other reality. 

And partly because he suspects that he really doesn’t want to know.


End file.
